Smoke from the Northern California wildfires has the potential to affect air quality throughout the entire San Joaquin Valley, prompting Valley air pollution officials to issue a health cautionary statement Valley-wide.

In addition, smoke impacts will continue from the Lion Fire inTulare County, especially in the foothills and mountainous areas of Fresno, Tulare and Valley portion of Kern counties. The health caution will remain in place and smoke impacts will continue until the fires are extinguished.

Smoke from fires can cause serious health problems including lung disease, asthma attacks and increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. Where conditions warrant, people with heart or lung disease should follow their doctors’ advice for dealing with episodes of particulate exposure, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District says.

People with existing respiratory conditions, young children and elderly people are especially susceptible to the health effects from these pollutants. Anyone being exposed to poor air quality or wildfire smoke should move inside to an air-conditioned environment.

The District’s Real-time Air Advisory Network (RAAN) monitors are designed to detect the fine particulates, which are microscopic in size and not visible to the human eye) that exist in smoke. Ash particles are much larger in size and will not be detected by our monitors. Therefore, an area may be experiencing ash impacts from potential fires while the monitor reflects a moderate reading.